After a successful year of exploring clay, creativity, location and community; Rachel is planning to re-run her CRG curriculum with a new group of clay enthusiasts. This is an intensive year long programme that consist of 4 terms that are each 10 weeks long, with an idea to nurture a new group dynamic throughout the year that attempts to provide a more structured approach to material enquiry and explores making ceramics in greater depth.
The 2025 Clay Research Programme will explore making from a perspective of material investigation. Together we will gather and make materials, share test results, discuss ideas and create new work.
Each term will involve making materials as a group, demonstrations, exercises, field trips, alongside your own avenue of making and testing where Rachel will be on hand to provide guidance and 1-to-1 feedback. You may prefer to work as an individual, or to develop a project collaboratively with other members of the group, but fundamentality these sessions are for creative exploration and experimentation.
To make this programme as accessible as possible we have decided to split payments across each term, so if you wish to attend the full year you simply need to sign up to the first term. Existing students will be given first option to join the next term, before we open it out to the general public.
Thursday Mornings, 10:00am-1:00pm
Collapsible content
Term 1 — Material Gathering and Production
January 9th—March 13th (10 weeks)
Material gathering and production
Term 1 will focus on ceramic material and alteration, field trips to gather materials from local sites of clay interest, and the production of a clay materials library including our own clays, slips and grogs for the group to use throughout the year.
The material library will allow you to share ideas and results of testing to gain a better understanding of the materials we’re using and their potential.
During this time you will be able to explore avenues of your own practise whilst creating forms to test these materials on.
Week 1
Introduction to CRG and a chance to meet each other. An overview of the term ahead. Hand out of overview, discussion around particular areas of interest and conversation around materials.
Rachel to provide example of what could be produced during the term (multiple pots of ingredients, grogs from different clays/oxides, brick dust, pebbles in different sizes, washed ash, sand, slips with oxides, slips from wild clay, clay alteration.) as example. Time for thinking / making.
Week 2
Clay production &/ clay alteration for grogs (Clay with oxide to be ground into grog. Eg. Cobalt grog)
Week 3
Time to explore own found materials and begin making tests for bisque.
Week 4
Field trip to collect more materials - fill holes in material library
Week 5
Time to process found materials and make tests for bisque. Wild clay processing
Week 6
Clay processing of wild and CRG continued and self directed making
Week 7
Washing sand & ash
Week 8
Group slip making session
Week 9
Terra sigillata ?
Week 10
Self directed making / test palettes
Term 2 — Collective and Individual Testing of Materials
April 3rd—June 5th/12th (10 weeks)
Collective and individual testing of materials
Term 2 will provide a consolidated period to test materials created in the first 10 weeks.
We will create test palettes of all materials, consider new ways of recording and
documenting, whilst learning how to listen and respond to results.
Discussions around documentation, testing.
Week 1
Introduction, welcoming back. Overview of weeks ahead. Overview of materials library. Discussion around ways of testing. Palette testing of collected materials
Week 2
Discussion around documentation, inventing new ways of recording / documenting, making a plan! Pairing up together or making a folder on your phone. Simple notes.
Week 3
Time to make tests - greenware + found ingredient
Week 4
Time to make tests - greenware + slips
Week 5
Field trip to Lowestoft to walk from clay pit to the site of lowestoft porcelain. Contact Ivan Bunn to organise walk with him.
Week 6
Sharing of pieces so far - chance to alter approach / choose another route or exploration
Week 7
Making greenware tests - Topping up of materials library where necessary
Week 8
Making palettes for glaze testing - to be fired to bisqueWeek 9 / Making glaze tests to be fired to bisque vertical + horizontal
Week 10
Self directed making (with tests in mind)
*Saturday / Sunday June 22nd - Collaborative supper for both CRG groups to talk clay*
Term 3 — Glaze dissection
July 3rd—11th September (10 weeks, potential to be more intensive periods)
GLAZE dissection
Term 3 will provide a basic introduction into glaze chemistry, production and editing. You will learn to create line blends and experiment with balancing raw materials to create a simple glaze recipe. We will also explore pre existing glaze adaptation through the introduction of oxides.
Week 1
Basic over view of glazes - what’s the balance, what’s happening during the firing, what is each ingredients purpose. Filling test palette with raw ingredients - example pre made.
Week 2
Line blends
Week 3
Basic 4321 + alteration
Week 4
Testing
Break x 2
Week 5
Come back to look at palettes together… free style.
Weeks 6
Slips under glaze
Week 7
Incorporating found materials into glaze
Week 8
Glaze testing
Week 9
Glaze testing
Week 10
Reflection
Term 4 — Testing on a Larger Scale
October 2nd—11th December (10 weeks)
Testing on a larger scale
Term 4 will allow you to begin exploring information gathered over the past 30 weeks into individual practise based exploration during a focused period of making time where you can either test further and on a larger scale or put results towards a more finished work/works.
Week 1
Introduction, welcoming back. Discussion of results - plans ahead
Week 2
Discussion around ways of making - exploratory exercise
Week 3
Time to make (Thinking about larger scale - giving time for firing)
Week 4
Time to make
Week 5
Field trip to 5th Floor of V&A (?)
Week 6
Sharing from trip and over view or current work
Week 7
Exploratory exercise (drawing)
Week 8
Time to make
Week 9
Time to make
Week 10
CONCLUSION TO YEAR ! CHRISTMAS SHARING/FEAST !
*December Collaborative CRG Show with CRG fellows - Date tbc*